let's bring in maryland democratic congressman chris van hollen. he was a member of the deficit reduction super committee, and he has covered this territory for the past year. here we are again. good morning, sir. >> good morning, christine. great to be with you and john. >> we have spent so much time talking about grover norquist and the tax pledges from some of the republicans on the right. their promises to not raise taxes and where they might be budging on that. i want to talk to you about the spending part of this -- of this -- of this balanced approach. because, conservatives are saying that you guys do not have a serious commitment to cutting spending. that all this talk about taxes is -- is distracting from the fact that democrats don't have a serious, serious plan for cutting spending. so tell me what's a serious plan? are you willing to cut spending? and how? >> yes, yes we are, christine. in fact, if you look at the president's budget it takes exactly that balanced approach that people are calling for. it has additional revenue, by askin